December a Mixed Month for Auto Sales

December a Mixed Month for Auto Sales
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/business/06auto.html?hp
DETROIT — Automakers ended a miserable year with a mixed December. The

Ford Motor Company was the only one of the three domestic companies to
report higher sales in the month.
Ford said Tuesday that its sales in the United States rose 33 percent in
December from a year ago, making it the company’s best month since May
2008. Over all for the year, Ford’s sales fell 15 percent.
Ford’s cross-town rival, General Motors, said its sales declined 6
percent in December, largely because of a 55 percent drop in sales by
the four brands it was shutting down. Sales were up 2 percent at the
four brands G.M. is keeping: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.
G.M. said sales declined 30 percent for the year.
Chrysler also reported a sharp yearly decline, with sales for all of
2009 falling below one million for the first time since 1962, to 931,402
vehicles. Sales were down 4 percent in December and 36 percent on the year.
Chrysler also announced more buyer incentives, including no-interest
financing for almost all 2010 models.
Most other automakers said their sales increased last month. Compared
with December 2008, sales were up 44 percent at Kia, 41 percent at
Hyundai, 24 percent at Honda, 23 percent at Toyota, 18 percent at
Nissan, 16 percent at Volkswagen, 9 percent at BMW and 8 percent at
Mercedes.
Ford estimated that its market share rose 1 percentage point in 2009, to
15 percent. That would represent Ford’s first full-year share increase
since 1995.
“Ford’s plan is working,” Ken Czubay, Ford’s vice president for United
States marketing, sales and service, said.
Shares of Ford, the only Detroit automaker to avoid bankruptcy, reached
their highest level since 2005 on Tuesday, rising 6.6 percent to $10.95.
They were worth as little as $1.50 in January 2009.
Automakers expect the year ahead to be much less turbulent than 2009,
when both G.M. and Chrysler borrowed billions of dollars from the
federal government before filing for bankruptcy protection, though sales
are expected to improve only modestly.
Sales were “very strong at the end of the month,” said Ford’s chief
sales analyst, George Pipas, an indication that the industry might enter
2010 with some positive momentum.
In another sign that better days are on the horizon, the industry’s
seasonally adjusted annualized selling rate has been rising steadily for
several months, ending 2009 at about 11.5 million vehicles. For all of
2009, automakers sold about 10.4 million light vehicles, G.M. and Ford
estimated.
“Excluding the ‘cash-for-clunkers’ months, this would constitute the
strongest sales rate since September 2008, suggesting the industry is
witnessing a real improvement in underlying demand for U.S. autos which
bodes well for 2010,” Brian A. Johnson, an automotive analyst with
Barclays Capital, wrote in a recent note to clients.
G.M. projected that the industry would sell 11 million to 12 million
vehicles in the United States this year, while Ford made a slightly more
optimistic forecast, ranging from 11.5 million to 12.5 million.
“If things progress like they have been the last four months, we’ll
probably be at the higher end of that range, closer to 12” million, said
Michael C. DiGiovanni, G.M.’s chief market analyst. But Mr. DiGiovanni
said G.M. would still be able to succeed if sales are at the lower end
of the forecast.
“We’re planning our business for both contingencies,” he said.
The industry has considerable ground to make up before its sales will
approach the levels seen only a few years ago. Sales in the United
States were down 24 percent in the first 11 months of 2009, putting it
on track to be the worst year in at least 27 years.
Sales would have been even more dismal but for the government’s
“cash-for-clunkers” program, which gave credits of up to $4,500 to
new-vehicle buyers who turned in an older, less-efficient car or truck
to be destroyed. The program, which started in late July, burned through
$3 billion in about a month.
Only three automakers — Hyundai and Kia, which are affiliated in South
Korea, and Subaru — sold more vehicles in 2009 than they did in 2008.
Those companies each set new sales records in 2009.

You should see Canada, GM has now slipped to 3rd place behind Toyota and
Ford. Yep, can't help but think many over taxed Canadians decided GM
bailout and corporate loser was not for them in 2009 as they already pay
too much taxes.
With China now making more autos than the US, it is only a mater of time
before we see a industry wide price correction in North America. This
now makes GM small potatoes in the big picture.
Hey Mike, read and weap. Even Ford beat GM in Canada for December.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/12/01/november-auto-sales.html?ref=rss
2010, GM will fall out of #1 in the US... tick-tock...GM is on a rock...

Once again our friend Canuck57 is telling us the sky is falling. Of course
the GM sales are down, GM is down to only four brands from nine when General
Motors went bankrupt.
How many cars are sold in Canada? Even if every Canadian bought a new car
the total is likely to be less than what is sold in a couple of states in
the US LOL

On 06/01/2010 12:29 PM, Mike Hunter wrote:
It is for GM. Want to ignore what is going all around you, go ahead.
But I want the pocket pickers sold off for tax recovery. It is not
ethical nor fair to make the whole country pay for a bunch of
GM/Chrysler/CAW/UAW losers and the scam artists pulling this on the
taxpayers.

Once again our friend Canuck57 is telling us the sky is falling.
Why do you think it is "ethical" for the Japs to take the American taxpayers
money and give it to the Jap auto manufactures, as they have been doing
since WWII?
IF YOU want to ignore what is going all around you, go ahead. LOL

Hey, you want to give me money, I will take it.
Japs get a few million here and there to build plants in US and Canada
that employ people.
GM gets $100+++ billion for the biggest management and policials f--k up
in world corporate history and it isn't enough.
Now get you ass back to work, it is only January 8th and your bailout
taxes haven't been paid yet.
On 07/01/2010 9:45 AM, Mike Hunter wrote:

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